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October 24, 2016

December Daily® 2016 | Beginning Preparations

Here are some of the things I'm doing right now as I get ready to begin working on my
December Daily® foundation pages (the way I like to get ahead a bit with my album before December):

01 | GATHER SUPPLIES + SET UP A LITTLE WORK SPACE

This is generally the time of year that I want to do a full clean up and clean out of most of my supplies - not just for December Daily® but for
everything. Doing that helps me find things that I might have stashed away that would be great for my December Daily® album (you'll see a couple of those things below).

My November and December are going to be a little different this year because there will be a construction project happening here in my house in the room right outside my office (we are creating another bedroom from some of my office space + another room). That means that my office is going to be more of a mess than usual and things won't be where they normally would be. Keeping that in mind it's even more important for me to clean up and out before that starts.

I also like to create space on my table in my office just for working on my
December Daily® pages. Your set up might be a little different depending on the space you have available. I like to fit my main supplies into a small box/basket even if I'm keeping it out on my table - this makes it easy if I want to work on my album in another part of my house.

02 | ASSESS WHAT BASIC SUPPLIES YOU MIGHT NEED OR NEED TO BE REPLENISHED

Take a look at your
inks + adhesives (including glue pens) + embossing powders + pens + paints + ink cartridges + printer paper. Are they in working order? Nothing is more annoying when you finally carve out time to work on your stories than finding out you are our of adhesive.

03 | A COUPLE OF EXTRAS

In addition to the products included in
my kits, I also usually have a few things I've stashed away over the course of the last year that I might end up including in my album. I also always like to check out other products available this season and see if there are any pieces I want to pick up for my own project. I definitely like to limit my supplies for this project so I don't have a ton of extra things - just a few things I know I would love to play with in my album.

04 | START THINKING ABOUT STORIES + DESIGN IDEAS + FOUNDATION PAGES

Start thinking about your reason why/intentions for this year. You can see my own reasons why & intentions (and download printables for both) for 2014 and 2105.

Start thinking of design ideas and ways to communicate your stories. I don't know every story I'll tell in advance (because I let life dictate a lot of that) but it's likely I'll tell the story of putting up our tree, of getting out the decorations, of Advent calendars, of twinkle lights, etc. While browsing around for ideas online, keep track of them when you come across ones that resonate with you and your intentions for this year. I usually just write these on yellow sticky notes or on a pad of paper.

If you are new to December Daily® or if you've been doing it for awhile but are looking for a more intentional approach this year I recommend checking out my Storytelling With December Daily® Workshop (class begins November 1). The bonus stamp set is still available at the time of this posting. Full details on this popular class can be found here.

Put your page protectors in order. I'm following essentially the same design map as last year (the only difference is that there are two more 6x8 full page protectors and two less of the three pocket design). As I got about documenting my stories some of the page protectors get moved around, but I like the process of thinking though the products + the stories in advance of the month. A flexible attitude with this project is totally the way to go.

Start putting stuff in the pockets. That's where I'm at right now and plan to share more with you soon!

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21 thoughts

Nady17 says…

10/24/2016

So enjoyed reading your blog post as it was "yeah, did that", "yeah, have this in my stash", etc. I wanted to start putting the pages together tomorrow so it was really great reading that you are in a quite similar status than I am ;) can't wait to see your foundation pages and getting more input in your storytelling class!

I usually wait before doing anything permanent in my DD album as I get some great inspiration from Ali's pages. Can't wait to see what she does this year. I'm definitely pairing it down and going with the simple, linear look. You'd never know it by the contents of my DD purchase this year! Ha!

My first steps this year are getting my previous albums done. In part this is just about getting them off my table and out of my head but I've discovered a big, and very useful, part is noticing what works best for me and noting that down to improve my process for this year. For me I think that means having fun and playing around with things beforehand but mostly using December for documenting and using January and February for doing the meat of the work on the album. Rather like the way Ali does Week in the Life. The fun thing is that if I hadn't "failed" in previous years (which never bothered me at all) and decided to catch up this year I never would have figured this out and would have continued to struggle along doing something that was almost but not quite right for me. Ali's Project Life class was also really great at helping me find my rhythm.

Love this - so much about it is figuring out what works best for you :).

Blitzburggirl says…

10/25/2016

I'm very similar. I usually have my album(s) and the PP's are just random. As the month goes on, I typically know when there is a photo or a story that I really really want to highlight, or even or daily life ephemera, and I slide scraps of paper, goodies, whatever in the pockets. Then, when I'm ready to work on it, I really accomplish alot, in a short amount of time. I've tried doing foundation pages a few times, and I always regret it when it's time to try to put it together. I've finished all the DD's I've started. Never in December... well... does December 2014 worked on in December 2015 count? I also do batch photo printing rather than at home, so I feel like just going with it with the little backbone of notes makes it faster for me than trying to make something preplanned work.

I purchased my first DD in 2013 and the only thing that got done was ogling over the contents of the box. Set forth with a little determination in 2014 and voila! finished it before the end of that year. Same for 2015 with the exception of finishing just a bit later. I love, love this project. I think the foundation pages are what I love most. I am so inspired by the post and love having pages all ready for photos and journaling. Sure, I change it up a bit when the time comes to work on that day, but overall, it is what gets me pumped and ready to jump head first into recording our holiday season. Thank you Ali for continually inspiring us to record our memories!